Government Shutdown Looms

In January, Congress passed a short-term, two-step funding extension to avoid a government shutdown. The first-step of the funding package approved by lawmakers in January has a March 1 deadline that would affect a number of federal agencies and create a partial government shutdown. Congress has until March 8 to reach some kind of deal on a spending bill to avoid a full government shutdown. U.S. Senator John Barrasso said there’s nothing good that comes from a shutdown.

If a continuing resolution or a more broader spending bill isn’t agreed upon by Congress by March 1, the departments of Veterans Affairs, Transportation and Energy, Housing and Urban Development and Agriculture will all shutdown. The rest of the federal government will shutdown if nothing is settled by March 8.